The 5 most scenic villages to visit in provence

22/7/2024 0 Comments

The 5 most scenic villages to visit in provence

I just got back from two weeks in the South of France (end of June - beginning of July 2024), and the Provence region completely exceeded expectations. I was expecting lavender and sunflower fields, and sure I was expecting cute villages, but I wasn't expecting this level of originality and authenticity. Each village seemed to have its own soul and atmosphere. Although they were all undeniably French by their cuisine and architecture, they all had that little "je ne sais quoi" that made them different. To help you plan future vacations to the Provence region, I selected my five favorite villages and listed why you should visit, and included plenty of pictures just for you!

gordes

Gordes is a beautiful village built on a hillside in the Parc du Luberon. And I'm not the only one saying it is gorgeous, as it was named the most beautiful village in the world by Travel + Leisure. Not only is Gordes easy on the eyes, but the view on the surrounding landscape from its winding roads is a sight to behold as well. I felt like I had just stepped in Beauty and the Beast.

Although the parking situation is quite messy and you have to arrive early, the best day to visit Gordes is during its market on Tuesdays. You will find shoes and pashminas, olives and fruit jellies, toys and souvenirs and plenty of other hand-made goods. You can also have a taste of multiple local specialties.

We spent half a day in Gordes and the other half in Roussillon and I felt like I had seen everything that I was visiting for, but you could also visit the castle and surrounding wineries, or use Gordes as your home-base to visit the other villages of the Luberon.

There is a small rest stop just outside of Gordes with the viewpoint from the picture above. Honestly, I recommend getting to Gordes very early, especially on market days. When we arrived at the viewpoint, we were lucky and someone was leaving, but when we drove past it on our way out, there was a line of cars waiting for a place to park and it was causing a traffic jam all the way down the mountain. It would be completely worth the wait for this view in my opinion, but if you can avoid the hassle by arriving early, that's even better.

I still haven't decided if my favorite view was the landscape seen from Gordes or the view on the town of Gordes, but it was pretty everywhere we went. I loved exploring the crooked streets and looking at the houses covered in vines and flowers.

roussillon

Roussillon was really special. Just like Gordes, it was built on top of a hill and offers a nice view on the surrounding fields. What made it different was its color. Roussillon was built near an ochre mine, so the houses were covered in the mineral, giving them this orange and red tint.

I loved walking around the colorful streets, visiting the old church and admiring the view from the terrasse of the restaurant. The only downside of Roussillon for us was that we arrived early afternoon and had to park all the way down the mountain and walk about 1,5 km to the village. Uphill of course ;)

The village has many restaurants and little shops, but the main thing to see in Roussillon is the Sentier des Ocres or "Trail of the Ochres". There are two loops that you can walk, one 30 minute loop and one 50 minute loop. Personally, we did the longer one, took our time and plenty of photos, and still, we were done in 30 minutes, so it's really not a long hike and you can definitely do it in comfortable sandals, but it brings you down to the floor of one of the old quarries where you can admire the different shades of the mountains and ground and have a nice view on the landscape and village.

fontaine de vaucluse

Being from the province of Quebec where the lakes and rivers are mostly brown, I have to admit that I'm a sucker for blue, green and clear water. Fontaine the Vaucluse just took a look at my expectations and went "wow that's the bare minimum". The river is so clear, not only can you see the bottom, but you can clearly see the leaves on the underwater trees. This river is actually an outflow of ground water and located in the middle of a canyon.

Now you're probably thinking, "wasn't this article about the villages of Provence?" And yes, the village, Fontaine de Vaucluse, is located on either side of the river Sorgue. You'll find cute little terrasse restaurants and souvenir shops, there are also crepe stands and gelato and granitas. We also visited the old paper mill, which is a free visit, but unfortunately, due to a land slide, we weren't able to go to the actual fountain, the source of ground water. It was still one of my favorite places in Provence and a nice afternoon enjoying the view and strolling through the village.

valensole

Valensole was one of our home-bases to visit the region, and while the village isn't much, it was a perfect starting point to visit the lavender fields, surrounding villages and the Verdon Gorges.

Like I said, the village in itself isn't much. There are a few restaurants, small grocery stores, a few little shops, and that's pretty much it. But it looks like the village from Tangled and, no matter which road you take in or out of Valensole, you will find lavender, sunflower and even poppy fields. It is a beautiful area of Provence and you can't go wrong with spending time there.

Our personal favorite lavender fields were on the road between Manosque and Valensole and between Valensole and Riez, but there were also really nice ones near Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon. Honestly, it really depends on which fields were just harvested, but on any road from or to Valensole, you will pass some beautiful flower fields, mostly lavender. We visited Valensole at the beginning of July and every field was in bloom, it was incredible. The fragrance in the air was also beyond anything I had ever smelled. At the end of our visit, I felt like my hands smelled of flowers.

avignon

Avignon is probably more of a city than a village, I'll admit, but it is still a must see. First, because I grew up with the "Pont d'Avignon" song. You can look it up, but it's basically a nursery rhyme that says that everyone dances on the bridge of Avignon. Of course I had to go and dance on the Pont d'Avignon! Second, the visit of the "Maison des papes" (house of the popes), was really well done, rich in history, but also fun.

We spent half a day in Avignon before our visit to Fontaine de Vaucluse and we had plenty of time to walk around, visit the Maison des papes and the bridge and get something to eat.

The bridge from the song is actually called Pont Saint-Bénezet and used to be made of 22 arches that allowed people to cross over the Rhône river. Today there are only 4 arches left and, though you can't cross the Rhône using this bridge anymore, it is possible to visit and walk on it still. The visit includes an audioguide in multiple languages explaining the history of the town of Avignon as well as the bridge itself. There are videos and signs with the techniques used during the construction and what it would have looked like whole.

Although my dancing skills are clearly sub-par, I really enjoyed the visit. The information was interesting and well presented, and I loved that every remaining part of the bridge we were able to explore. There were stairs to take us down to the pillars and the Saint-Benezet chapel was also open for visitors.

The Maison des papes was the other main attraction to our visit in Avignon and this ticket gave us a reduction to visit the bridge.

Upon entering the palace (because, let's be honest, that is what it is) every visitor was handed a tablet guiding us to each section of the visit. We could also scan signs in every room to have the description and a 360 visual reconstruction of what the room used to look like. There was also a treasure to look for which upped the ante and motivated us to look at every part of each room with attention.

This is the view on the Maison des Papes and its courtyard from the Jardin des Doms. The next pictures are also from the Jardin des Doms which is a beautiful garden with a viewpoint on the Rhône and an access to the fortifications surrounding the city.

Visiting Provence has it's challenges. The roads are very narrow, there are very few parking spaces for a lot of visitors and it included quite a lot of walking uphill, but, as you can see, the views are definitely worth the challenges.

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